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Is a Vegetarian Diet Safe for My Child?
If you are a vegetarian
parent you have probably considered putting your child
on a vegetarian diet. Not only would it save you time
and make meal planning easier, but for dietary reasons
or ethical reasons you may believe it is the best choice
for your child.
Conversely, you may not be a vegetarian
but you may have a child who is at a vegetarian phase
where he or she is rejecting meat but doesn't eat enough
healthy foods to compensate for the nutritional gap.
Whatever the case may be, you may be
wondering if a vegetarian diet is a sustainable, healthy
choice for your child. Or, perhaps you have heard that
a vegetarian diet could potentially stunt the growth
of your child.
These concerns probably prevented you
from putting your child on a vegetarian diet up to this
point.
You should be aware that these concerns
are in-fact legitimate issues and that if a vegetarian
diet is poorly planned, it can cause serious long term
and short term deficiencies especially in children who
do not have sufficient stores of vitamins and minerals
in their bodies as yet.
If you have not done sufficient research
and are not well-prepared for the task of putting your
child on a vegetarian diet, then you probably should
not. However, if you've done your research and are aware
of the kind of nutrients that vegetarian diets lack,
then you know that these problems can easily be over-come
with some meal planning.
You will probably be aware that putting
your child on a vegetarian diet can greatly improve
his or her health and limit the exposure to animal products
that are often linked to hormones and preservatives.
To begin your child on a vegetarian
diet you should make sure that you your meal-planning
ensures enough of the following elements that vegetarian
diets lack:
1) Protein - make sure that your child
is getting enough protein from additional sources such
as nuts and soybeans.
2) Calcium - ensure that your child
is getting enough calcium in his diet by including lots
of green leafy vegetables to his diet.
3) Iron - add more iron to your child's
diet by increasing beans, soybeans, tofu and cereals.
4) Zinc - enhance your child's Zinc
intake by increasing, nuts, peanut butter, and mushrooms.
If you concentrate on compensating for
all of these common deficiencies that vegetarian diets
lack, then, you can absolutely put your child on a vegetarian
diet without any negative consequences.
1howto.com
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